Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Did you guys know...

16 out of 30 teams make the playoffs every season? That's 53% of the teams!

And, every season, some of the teams aren't even trying to make the playoffs and sorta/kinda lose intentionally. On related note... the Wolves have made the playoffs once in 15 seasons... and needed an OT game the last day of the season to make it.

The Timberwolves have failed to make the playoffs in a league where MOST teams make the playoffs 22 out of 31 seasons. Once there, they've won the series one time out of 9 tries.

thedoper wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Did you guys know...

16 out of 30 teams make the playoffs every season? That's 53% of the teams!

And, every season, some of the teams aren't even trying to make the playoffs and sorta/kinda lose intentionally. On related note... the Wolves have made the playoffs once in 15 seasons... and needed an OT game the last day of the season to make it.

The Timberwolves have failed to make the playoffs in a league where MOST teams make the playoffs 22 out of 31 seasons. Once there, they've won the series one time out of 9 tries.

Yes. Nothing has worked. The idea that this franchise should have a championship or bust mentality is insane to me. We've been bust since the beginning. How about starting with entertaining your fans with competitive and spirited play? Then maybe sneak in the playoffs with a pesky team, start establishing some stars, get out of the first round, etc. We suck!! Only Garnett and one year of Butler was able to change this reality, and those guys were total assholes. Maybe we need to just find the biggest assholes out there and ignore this cultural backlash that happens in Minnesota with problematic characters. We want entertaining players who are nice guys, it's not going to happen. We loved Rickey and now Culver because they're nice. They need to draft the biggest, meanest asshole out there this year. If he calls KAT, Wiggins, Saunders, Rosas and Taylor bitches so be it. They'd be right.

thedoper wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Did you guys know...

16 out of 30 teams make the playoffs every season? That's 53% of the teams!

And, every season, some of the teams aren't even trying to make the playoffs and sorta/kinda lose intentionally. On related note... the Wolves have made the playoffs once in 15 seasons... and needed an OT game the last day of the season to make it.

The Timberwolves have failed to make the playoffs in a league where MOST teams make the playoffs 22 out of 31 seasons. Once there, they've won the series one time out of 9 tries.

Yes. Nothing has worked. The idea that this franchise should have a championship or bust mentality is insane to me. We've been bust since the beginning. How about starting with entertaining your fans with competitive and spirited play? Then maybe sneak in the playoffs with a pesky team, start establishing some stars, get out of the first round, etc. We suck!! Only Garnett and one year of Butler was able to change this reality, and those guys were total assholes. Maybe we need to just find the biggest assholes out there and ignore this cultural backlash that happens in Minnesota with problematic characters. We want entertaining players who are nice guys, it's not going to happen. We loved Rickey and now Culver because they're nice. They need to draft the biggest, meanest asshole out there this year. If he calls KAT, Wiggins, Saunders, Rosas and Taylor bitches so be it. They'd be right.

Q12543 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:The Warriors were never THIS bad for THIS long. And they built their foundation with a #7 pick (Curry), and #11 pick (Thompson) and a 2nd rounder (Green). So they proved you didn't have to be among the worst of the worst to identify and develop elite talent.

The Sixers would not have been as bad as long as they were if it were not for the horrible luck of nearly every rookie they drafted during the "process" being hurt and out for an entire season. Also, when their process started, they were only two seasons removed from competing in the Eastern Conference Semis.

It could be argued that no team in the history of modern day professional sports loses as much as the Wolves have. We currently have two healthy former #1 picks on the roster.

To Abe's point, the evidence is in front of our faces. Losing begets more losing.

I did this earlier in the season but look at the playoff teams.

The East
Bucks- No high draft pick that they drafted, built off getting a great pick in Giannis
Raptors- The defending NBA champions have no pick in the top 10 on their roster that they drafted.
Celtics- Even when they traded everyone away (Pierce, KG, Terry, Rondo), they still competed. Only 1 guy added in the top ten that they didn't acquire from a trade and that was Smart.
Heat- 1 pick in the Top Ten, who was Winslow who was taken 10th. Built something off late lotto picks and using guys who were drafted later like Richardson to acquire Butler.
Pacers- 0 players drafted within the top 10, made playoffs 9 of the last 10 years
76ers- Built a team through the process, one of the few teams that built on tanking. But in that tank job they wasted 2 years of drafting, Okafor and Noel and they are an Embiid college injury away from having Parker as a 76ers getting drafted 3rd.
Nets- Traded every future asset for old washed up players. Never drafted in the top 10 and are still super competitive.
Magic- A team that is 6 games under 500 but their best player in Vucevic was drafted in the middle of the 1st round. There high picks in Gordan, Bamba and Issac have been ok but are not amazing.

That is the East 2, teams in the playoffs had multiple non traded picks in the top ten and that is the 6th seed Sixers who took tanking to an extreme and the 8th seed 6 games under 500 magic.

Now the West

Lakers- No top 10 picks that they drafted on the roster
Clippers- No top 10 picks that they have drafted on the roster
Nuggets- 1 top ten guy in Murray currently on the roster, they have not won 40 3 times in a 15 year stretch, one year they didn't have a pick and the other they drafted Mudiay. So they built through 2nd round pick Jokic and filled the gaps in with mid to late round picks.
Jazz- 0 players drafted in the top ten. Traded Trey Lyles for Mitchell who was a late lotto pick.
Rockets- 0 drafted players in the top ten
Mavs- 1 player they drafted in the top ten and that was Luka, where they got him in their 2nd year of not winning 40 games for the 1st time in 16 years
Thunder- 0 players drafted in the top ten
Grizzlies- 2 top ten guys, got both of the guys due to injuries by Conley and Gasol. Also the last 2 years were the 1st time they didn't make the playoffs in 7 years.

So 1 team has multiple top 10 picks drafted by that team in the playoffs in the NBA.

In total of the 16 playoff teams

There is 11 players drafted in the top ten by there current team. 13 if you count Tatum and Brown who were technically traded for. 5 of those 13 players are by the 8 seeds in both conference.

Wolves currently have 3 players drafted in the Top Ten (Wiggins, Towns, Culver) they will be adding their 4th this year. I want to know where the proof is that tanking is correct. The only team that tanked and got significantly good was the 76ers, and like I said they are a Embiid college injury away from having Parker on their team instead of Embiid. So there picks in 4 years would have been, Parker, Noel, Okafor, Simmons.

I want to know where the proof is that tanking works.

Yup, it's amazing how so many other teams have been able to stay consistently competitive- both big AND smaller market teams like Indiana - without having to rely on multiple high lottery picks. And think about this...for a brief window, we held THREE consecutive #1 picks in Bennett, Wiggins, and KAT! Yet here we sit after 15+ years with only a Jimmy Butler/Thibs-led squad able to muscle us into the playoffs.

I think Lip is just trying to rationalize all the losing and spin it into a silver lining of better lottery odds. I don't blame him given all the $, time, and emotional capital he's given to this franchise.